Editing Federalism (section)

==Europe vs. the United States==
{{main|Federal Europe|Federalism in the United States}}
In [[#Federalism in Europe|Europe]], "federalist" is sometimes used to describe those who favor a common federal government, with distributed power at regional, national and supranational levels. The [[Union of European Federalists]] advocates for this development within the [[European Union]], ultimately leading to the [[European Federation|United States of Europe]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Pistone | first=Sergio | url=https://www.federalists.eu/fileadmin/files_uef/Pictures/Website_Animation/About_UEF/70th_Anniversary/UEF_Booklet_70_Years_of_Campaigns_for_a_United_and_Federal_Europe.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160928224450/http://www.federalists.eu/fileadmin/files_uef/Pictures/Website_Animation/About_UEF/70th_Anniversary/UEF_Booklet_70_Years_of_Campaigns_for_a_United_and_Federal_Europe.pdf | archive-date=2016-09-28 | url-status=live | title=70 years on campaigns for a united and federal Europe | date=2016-06-08 | publication-place=Brussels | publisher=[[Union of European Federalists]]}}</ref> Although there are medieval and early modern examples of European states which used confederal and federal systems, contemporary [[European Federalism|European federalism]] originated in post-war Europe; one of the more important initiatives was [[Winston Churchill]]'s speech in [[Zürich]] in 1946.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/astonish.html|title=The Churchill Society London. Churchill's Speeches.|website=www.churchill-society-london.org.uk|access-date=2011-09-06|archive-date=2012-04-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422233906/http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/astonish.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the [[#United States|United States]], federalism originally referred to belief in a stronger central government. When the U.S. Constitution was being drafted, the [[Federalist Party]] supported a stronger central government, while "[[Anti-Federalism|Anti-Federalists]]" wanted a weaker central government. This is very different from the modern usage of "federalism" in Europe and the United States. The distinction stems from the fact that "federalism" is situated in the middle of the political spectrum between a [[confederation|confederacy]] and a [[unitary state]]. The U.S. Constitution was written as a replacement for the [[Articles of Confederation]], under which the United States was a loose confederation with a weak central government.

In contrast, Europe has a greater history of unitary states than North America, thus European "federalism" argues for a weaker central government, relative to a unitary state. The modern American usage of the word is much closer to the European sense. As the power of the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. federal government]] has increased, some people{{who|date=April 2019}} have perceived a much more unitary state than they believe the [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]] intended. Most people politically advocating "federalism" in the United States argue in favor of limiting the powers of the federal government, especially the [[Courts of the United States|judiciary]] (see [[Federalist Society]], [[New Federalism]]).

The contemporary concept of federalism came about with the creation of an entirely new system of government that provided for democratic representation at two governing levels simultaneously, which was implemented in the [[Constitution of the United States|US Constitution]].<ref>{{cite journal | last=Law | first=John | date=2012 | title=Sense on Federalism | journal=Political Quarterly | volume=83 | issue=3 | issn=0032-3179 | doi=10.1111/j.1467-923X.2012.02336.x | pages=541–550, at pp. 543–544}}</ref>{{sfn|Wheare|1946|p=11}} In the United States implementation of federalism, a bicameral general government, consisting of a chamber of popular representation proportional to population ([[United States House of Representatives|the House of Representatives]]), and a chamber of equal State-based representation consisting of two delegates per State ([[United States Senate|the Senate]]), was overlaid upon the pre-existing regional governments of the thirteen independent States. With each level of government allocated a defined sphere of powers, under a written constitution and the rule of law (that is, subject to the independent third-party arbitration of a supreme court in competence disputes), the two levels were thus brought into a coordinate relationship {{explain|date=October 2021}} for the first time.

In 1946, [[Kenneth Wheare]] observed that the two levels of government in the US were "co-equally supreme".{{sfn|Wheare|1946|pp=10–15}}{{full|the precise page number must appear inmediately after queoted material. See [[WP:CITE]]|date=October 2021}} In this, he echoed the perspective of American founding father James Madison who saw the several States as forming "distinct and independent portions of the supremacy"<ref>Madison, James, Hamilton, Alexander and Jay, John (1987) ''The Federalist Papers'', Penguin, Harmondsworth, p. 258.</ref> in relation to the general government.